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Comment Re:It's just absentee voting (Score 1) 189

If you clicked on the link, it says exactly how it will work. You email them an absentee application, they email back a ballot, you return the ballot. The only difference is that this is not snail mail (and some states already do this for overseas and/or military voters, so it obviously works well enough without the massive fraud people like to predict).

Comment Re:Google Police (Score 2) 200

Being a little pushy isn't a shocking crime. And as they intentionally started fucking with him I would expect security to warn them that they could get in trouble.

Where was the phone? Did the bartender take it with him? I'm pretty sure bartenders don't get to take lost phones home with them, if I were in security I'd be warning them about that too! The bartender or manager on duty at the bar should have had access to the phone and returned it.

What's this "meet me at noon tomorrow" garbage? The bar is open, a representative of the phone's owner is there to claim it. He says most people come back in 15 minutes, do all of them have to return the next day at noon?

In the end, it all worked out fine and I don't think hurt feelings on behalf of a bartender who went out of his way to screw with the Google guy is a big deal.

Comment Re:Cost? (Score 1) 115

If the fido works as well as the dog, then it would seem better even at a price premium. The dog would cost a few grand a year in upkeep, needs round the clock care, need a place to be housed on premises, needs a place to relieve itself even if in a large building complex etc. A computerized device would have lower upkeep costs (hopefully), could be used irregularly (give one to each military unit, etc), can be redistributed from place to place as needs change without also relocating a handler, etc. I'm guessing Fido isn't as good as a dog though, or as fast. Those sniffing dogs at customs can cover a lot bags and people very quickly.

One thing that comes to mind -- I read recently that the MTA employees in NYC often handle "suspicious" packages themselves instead of calling authorities which may not strictly be their policy to do. Basically, shutting down a subway track/station and calling the police or bomb squad is not practical every time someone forgets a bag on a system that has a billion rides a year. They could conceivably have one of these things in some stations to check abandoned but not-particularly-suspicious items.

Comment Re:Seen this in person (Score 5, Interesting) 400

My Chemistry professor last year told me each year the faculty votes on which book to use. The book publishers all come in, give a pitch, bribe them with gifts, and also provide canned lectures slides and assignments for the professors who don't want to prepare on their own. Thats how they get professors and universities to agree to this shit. I wouldn't be surprise if there is a full on kickback to the universities too...

Whenever I see this "you need to have this special software provided only by the book company to do assignments for [extremely basic course]," that's a sign your university and/or professors sold you out.

Comment Re:Oh, the delicious irony! (Score 0, Flamebait) 923

Why would the UK or Sweden "guarantee" that he won't be extradited? If the US has not requested it, and a court has not ruled, then no guarantee could be made.

Does anyone on Slashdot realize that we have laws and courts for a reason? You can't justify any activity based on speculation about a future ruling in a future case that doesn't even exist yet.

If Assange were to be extradited, I assume it would be via a proper legal mechanism. If the extradition laws were not followed, THEN there would be an issue.

Comment Re:The end point should be run by the military (Score 4, Informative) 349

My guess is that the military DOES provide internet access. And it probably allows them to do basic web tasks, etc but does not allow streaming video, VOIP, etc. This is probably because they are on a limited satellite connection and have to guarantee performance for the actual military functions of the ship.

They also probably have access to Armed Forces radio and television, DVD libraries, etc.

Comment What type of connection? (Score 1) 349

I'm surprised this is even an option, I recently worked at a remote US government facility and there were heavy filtering requirements in place. Do military regs really allow you to avoid their regular IT controls and policies this way?

At any rate, my first question is are you talking about a physical internet connection while in port, or using a satellite at sea or what? You're talking about supporting an awful lot of users and data through the VPN, but can your basic connection support that?

Comment Re:You are being played (Score 1) 171

I dunno. It's a bit hard to tell from his post how senior of a "manager" they want to make him. A first level manager could easily only have 10 years of experience, so if he's a 20-year veteran on the technical ladder he could be making more in that role than the first level manager range typically is. And many companies DO have a specific range for a specific title (which doesn't mean exceptions shouldn't be possible).

It could be reasonable to pay the same for a top end engineer and a low end manager. And they could be right that with his technical chops, he could advance quickly through the management ranks if he has a talent for it. And if not, then he's got a year or two of management on his resume at the same pay with an excellent technical background. That should make it easy to get another management job, at a higher rate if warranted.

That said, it does sound like they want him to manage quite a few people. So not such a simple job. And I'd like to know if it is what most of us probably think of as a manager, dealing with budgets and senior management and a lot of other things or if they want him to be a supervisor...scheduling shifts and assigning tasks primarily.

Comment Re:Jay Lee handled this all wrong (Score 1) 667

All he wanted was to get an agreement with people using his images. Permission, licencing fee, or takedown.

I don't think he particularly cares to end up in court with some lady that is, lets just say it, psycho. I mean did you read her blog? She's one step below screaming as passing cars crazy. Jay Lee has nothing to gain by "standing up for his principles" now. She took down the image, time to move on.

Comment Re:"checkpoint smurf?" (Score 1) 699

The letter from the TSA agent's lawyer says she followed proper procedure. I doubt that includes inserting a gloved hand into the passenger's vagina 4 times. I think her claims are very much in dispute.

Not only that, but the actual blog post makes clear that she was upset about the "often crumpled Constitution and Bill of Rights", that people "shouldn't give the TSA an easy time of violating your rights", and that she (PRIOR TO THE SEARCH) "felt it was important to make a spectacle." She then encourages everyone else to do the same, post names of TSA agents, and says that TSA agents are like guards at Nuremberg (she probably means Auchwitz or similar).

Honestly, between some random TSA agent doing a routine search and someone who freely writes that they came to cause a spectacle and shame the agents for a policy they don't like? I find the TSA agent to be the more credible one here. Amy Alkon set out to try to drum up attention for herself. She didn't react to the search...she planned the reaction before the search. She sounds like a nut to me.

Comment Re:I tried to edit Wikipedia once (Score 1) 533

I've read all the highly rated comments on several /. stories like this, and no one ever provides a real example of these egregious situations. I'm certain there are some douchey admins out there, but I've made about 30 small edits to 17 different articles in a wide range of topics in the last 6 years and I've yet to have anything reverted. I don't take that to mean others don't have this problem, but it seems like no one is willing to take even 30 seconds to log into their wikipedia account and copy a link from the "My Contributions" section.

It makes me doubt a bit that this is such a big problem. If it were, wouldn't the evidence be easier to come by? Personally, with 17 edits in 6 years I'm not very passionate either way on the subject. I look things up in Wikipedia several times a day, and it always seems to give me what I want. In the end that's all that matters to most people.

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